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ARA
Devourer Of Worlds

Self-released (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Following on from their 2012 EP The Blessed Sleep, Milwaukee death metallers Ara return to the fray with another pulverising slab of brutality.

Devourer Of Worlds is a ten-track bone cruncher offering up the barking bellows of vocalist Adam Bujny, his style something akin to that Cryptopsy exhibition of grinding, guttural vehemence. I can take or leave such a style, often finding myself irritated by such gritty expressions, but this time round I’m finding that such vocal atrocities fit well with a musical style that mixes the jarring complexity of, say, Gorguts with the pummelling intensity of Cannibal Corpse.

Although the press release for Devourer Of Worlds states that the band should appeal to those who have a taste for the likes of Suffocation, Origin, Hate Eternal and Morbid Angel, this is still an album of contemporary design. This is something that often alienates me, simply because I find that with modern death metal there appears to be no real invention or fusty evil. Nevertheless, because Ara have that ability to combine occasional snippets of old school leaning with a cleaner, concise and very much complex belligerence, Devourer Of Worlds makes for an entertaining listen.

I’m a huge fan of technical, arrogant death metal, although have always preferred the atmospheric notions of, say, Pestilence and the more jazzed-up intensity of Atheist. At the other end of the spectrum I adore the harrowing aspects of Gorguts, and so I’d certainly file Ara in that Gorguts territory. The band offers up a good mix of blazing, blast-beat speed with the likes of ‘Jerupitus, The Blood-Drenched’ which – to put simply – is three-and-a-half minutes of brutality channelled through the maniacal guitar jolts of Jerry Hauppa, whose quizzical style is complemented perfectly by the hammering percussion of Erik Stenglein. Even so, the band is at its most forceful with the slower passages, an example being the closing quarter of ‘Jerupitus, The Blood-Drenched’ with its truly weighty, brain-demolishing grunts and battering bass-lines courtesy of James Becker.

However, at its most jarring Ara offer up the likes of the belligerent ‘Obelisk’ which chugs, twists and prods but still offers up memorable segments in its terrifying technical prowess. The brilliantly titled ‘Cadaverlanche’ is equally bamboozling, although here the vocals tend to melt into the background as a fuzzy, phlegm-coated emission, enabling the barrage of beastly drums to do their thing alongside that unorthodox guitar grind. ‘Dredgehammer’ lives up to its title, dredging the dehydrated void in search of any famished particles that may be added to the already withered ingredients that once stirred make for a mid-tempo clanking via that clattering bass and a drum rasp that can only spew thuds of ash and grit.

While not inaccessible by way of its technical nature, there’s enough variety throughout each track to enable the listener to grasp onto each instrument and appreciate it singularly as well as part of a brutal pact. I’d still prefer a cleaner and slightly more decipherable, maybe old school vocal spout, but such cruel carnage is saved for the crushing closing title track where the vocals take on the form of a horrifying bark amidst a grey sea of twisted bass-lines and that constant drilling drum.

It’s hard to put aside those Gorguts comparisons, but there’s enough ferocity here to keep even the most hardened death metal souls happy. Even with their complexity, Ara has managed to not once sacrifice weight for the sake of self-indulgence, and so what we get is a devastating array of grinding, gruelling and devouring.

Neil Arnold

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